The present disclosure relates to a joiner for modular furniture. The joiner has been developed primarily for use in joining modular, steel frame, lounge suites and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the joiner may also be used in other applications, such as in joining cabinets, boxes or any other items which have an inside edge and a metal piece or magnet attached.
Modular lounge suites, or “sectionals”, have many benefits, such as the ability to reconfigure the lounge suite based on space constraints or for aesthetic reasons, along with the ability to separate units of the suites to facilitate transport and storage.
Most known modular lounge suites are typically not connected together and rely on frictional engagement of each unit of the modular lounge suite with the floor to retain the units together. A disadvantage of this joining technique is that the units of the modular lounge suite can move apart when forces in excess of the frictional resistance between the units and the floor are applied to the lounge.
To address this problem, a known method of joining modular furniture includes providing first and second coupling elements on adjoining units of the modular furniture, with the coupling elements being engageable upon raising of one of the adjoining units relative to the other, alignment of the coupling elements, and lowering of the raised unit to engage the coupling elements and retain the adjoining units together. A disadvantage of this joining technique is that one of the adjoining units must be lifted, which can be difficult if the unit is heavy, to join the adjoining units together. A further disadvantage is that alignment of the coupling elements of the adjoining units can be a tedious task.
Another known method of joining units of modular furniture together involves installing a bracket between the units of modular furniture and fastening the bracket to the furniture using screws or bolts. A disadvantage of this method is that fastening the brackets is time consuming, tedious and requires special tools and at least some degree of skill. A further disadvantage is that the screw or bolt fasteners must be removed if a user wishes to reconfigure the units of modular furniture.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.